Swimming update

Swim lessons have ended. Sigh, yet another sign that my favorite season is starting to wrap up. In case you were on the edge of your seat wondering how Jellybean and Peanut did in their second session of lessons, here's the update:

Peanut now goes under water! Not just her face in the water, but a full-on dunk down to the top of her head. The first time she did it, I feared she was drowning -- until she emerged with a big grin on her face. She still doesn't like to try to float on her stomach with her face in. But, her kicking is getting better and better, and she started backstroking with her arms on her own. I'm thrilled how far she has come.

Jellybean chose the very last lesson to decide to float. And she only did it once. I was happy with the number of lessons we had, until she had to go and do a new thing at the very end of the last lesson! Just one more lesson with a couple more floats, and she'd forget that she used to not be able to do that. I doubt she'll do it for L or me, but we'll keep trying when we go to the pool. The best thing from this session was the other little boy in her group. He kicked like the dickens, could get himself into a floating position, and was just the perfect example of confidence with skills in the water. Oh, I hope she remembers him!

All in all, I am nothing short of amazed that they went from afraid of water being above their necks to taking turns dunking their entire heads in the bath tub. Yea, summer!

Swimming with pride

I signed both girls up for swim lessons this summer for the first time. I wanted them to learn to swim without having me in the water, because I thought they might do better if it wasn't Mama telling them what to do. Turns out, I was probably correct in that assumption.

What I didn't factor in with the lessons was how quickly they would make progress -- and how freakin' exciting it is when they do! I have never felt so proud as I have behind the glass walls (we went to an indoor pool so as to avoid the bad weather factor), watching them do things for their teachers they would never do for L and me. I've practically jumped up and down a few times.

When we started lessons, they liked to be in the water, but only from the neck down. Two days into lessons, Jellybean was voluntarily dunking herself and has announced that she loves going under water now. And little Peanut, who I thought may be a tad too young to really do anything, actually floated on her back by herself -- a skill that is 2 levels beyond where she is! (Mind you, she's still working on putting her face in the water. And Jellybean wants nothing to do with floating.)

It went so well, and I've been so thrilled with their progress, I've signed them up for another session. I can't wait to see what they'll do next!